Apple will reportedly hold a media event the first week in March in San Francisco to unveil its third-generation iPad, which is expected to go on sale soon after it is unveiled.

Citing unnamed sources, AllThingsD reported on Thursday that Apple's so-called "iPad 3" will debut at a special event to be held the first week in March. That means the next-generation tablet will be shown off in the next three to four weeks.

Author John Paczkowski said the device will be largely the same as rumors have suggested, with a high-resolution Retina Display in the range of 2,048-by-1,536 pixels along with a "much faster" processor and improved graphics processing.

Paczkowski also asked a source whether 2012 will be "the year of the iPad 3," and they reportedly said, "what do you think?" Last year at the iPad 2 unveiling in March, Apple killed off rumors that a new iPad model would launch later in the year by declaring 2011 the "Year of iPad 2."

Last year, the iPad 2 was unveiled at a media event at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday, March 2. Thursday's rumor suggests that the new iPad will debut at a similar point in the year. The month of March kicks off on a Thursday in three weeks.

The rumored date comes as a flurry of pictures claim to show components for Apple's third-generation iPad, including one that purports to be a high-resolution Retina Display manufactured by Sharp for the anticipated tablet's 9.7-inch touchscreen. Separately, a pair of reports claim to show both the outside and inside of the device's back panel, suggesting it will include space internally for a larger battery.

The iPad seems to be following the lineage of the iPhone; the first generation introduced the concept, the second generation refined the first, the third generation improved the third and the fourth generation perfected the third.

Replaced our old LG Lotus phones w/iPhones yesterday. Both buying iPad 3's when they come out to replace the single original iPad we have, which our 2 daughters will be sharing now. The smart money ahs been on March for a long time really, not surprised to hear this at all.

Now if only Ivy Bridge would hurry up and drop. My tax return is burning a hole in my pocket for a new computer

Replaced our old LG Lotus phones w/iPhones yesterday. Both buying iPad 3's when they come out to replace the single original iPad we have, which our 2 daughters will be sharing now. The smart money ahs been on March for a long time really, not surprised to hear this at all.

Now if only Ivy Bridge would hurry up and drop. My tax return is burning a hole in my pocket for a new computer

I am with you on a new ivy bridge MBP.....can't wait!

Tallest Skil:

"Eventually Google will have their Afghanistan with Oracle and collapse" "The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created."

I'm hoping they abandon the number thing for both iPhone and iPad once 4G LTE gets in both. Kinda like they do with the Macs, they have a version number that's not printed on the outside and people refer to them based on the release year.

Imagine how many arguments about a GD number that we wouldn't ever see on AI!

are iPads normally available for orders online? why would people fall in line for hours if they could buy it online?

This question comes up again and again and again at each Apple product release (particularly iPhones and iPads).

Pay attention now so you won't be asking this when the iPhone 5 is about to release.

1. Some people like actually going to bricks-and-mortars stores for such a debut. It's an event, they chat with people with similar interests while they wait in line, then hopefully they are the proud owners of the device in question on the very first day.

2. Online orders are sometimes delayed or staggered so the delivery date is after the release date. For some, they would rather stand in line at a bricks-and-mortar shop rather than risk having the delivery of the item delayed by days, sometimes weeks.

Let's face it. The aspects of a live, in-person event are sometimes more appealing than just passively doing it from the comfort of your living room similar to the fact that you can watch a sports event on the TV or you can go to the game.

I'm hoping they abandon the number thing for both iPhone and iPad once 4G LTE gets in both. Kinda like they do with the Macs, they have a version number that's not printed on the outside and people refer to them based on the release year.
Imagine how many arguments about a GD number that we wouldn't ever see on AI!

posted from my MacBookPro8,3

You really don't think the naming arguments would stop at that point, do you?!

are iPads normally available for orders online? why would people fall in line for hours if they could buy it online?

Instant gratification. If they order online they might be lucky enough to get into the group that could perhaps be received on release day, or not. Plus not everyone, especially in larger cities, lives in a building that is secure enough for such deliveries. I know I'm not. I live in an apartment in Hollywood with young kids that would pick up anything left at the door out of curiosity, punk alleged drug dealers would swipe anything they think they can sell and so on. I have to be certain I will be at home when anything is delivered. My manager is never there and he is the most untrustworthy of them all so I can't have it left with him.

so yeah if i want something like this I have to go stand in line. But I'll likely be working so i'll wait a couple of weeks for the fever to die down and get it then. With luck they will be doing reservations so I'll know that I have one. Or by then they will allow you to order online and pick up at the store. So then again, I know it is a done deal.

I'm hoping they abandon the number thing for both iPhone and iPad once 4G LTE gets in both. Kinda like they do with the Macs, they have a version number that's not printed on the outside and people refer to them based on the release year.

i agree. that has a nice logic to it and calling it the iPhone 2012 avoids arguments like 'it can't be the iPhone 5 it is the 6th one' blah blah

I just thought of something that could be a bit of confirmation of these dates. The employee discount. Remember that stuff that leaked out about employees being able to get a $250 discount on top of their regular one on an iPad starting in June. Last year due to the supply issues employees didn't get any discounts for like 3 months. I would imagine that Apple is planning on the same high demand and the same restriction so release in March, employee discount starts in June is on par with the previous and could have been planned the way it was for that. Telling the employees now would mean they would be less likely to just go ahead and buy it full price, which means more for the regular customers (which is why they held back on discounts last year)

Surely some will point out this works for the iPhone but the subsidization model allow for that option due to the carrier paying the bulk of the cost.

I think we should consider the Retina Display could be more costly and/or be very limited in supply that Apple will charge more for these devices than the 1024x768 displays, thus creating two iPads for 2012. An iPad 2S that has increased performance but with the current display, and an iPad 3 with the Retina Display. One strategy could be to only to include the display in iPads with 3G or with the higher end capacity to help hide the costs and lower the number of potential buyers do to the aforementioned scenario of supply constraints.

We also need to consider some negative effects on other areas due to the number of pixels needing to be rendered. Things like GPU performance, battery life, thickness and weight. That's not to say any of that will be an issue for Apple, just things I'm considering.

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I think we should consider the Retina Display could be more costly and/or be very limited in supply that Apple will charge more for these devices than the 1024x768 displays, thus creating two iPads for 2012.

I think last October showed us just how silly that idea is. The retina iPad 3 will be the same price as current iPads. The iPad 2 16GB drops to $399 and Apple makes a killing on that, making up for whatever potential 4% margin drop they might incur by the added expense of the retina displays.

Quote:

Things like GPU performance, battery life, thickness and weight. That's not to say any of that will be an issue for Apple, just things I'm considering.

The battery is what I'm most worried about. And not just because of the display; because people are demanding LTE in the cellular model. I'm sure that if it's included, iFixit will tear it down and find a second-gen LTE chip in there with a power draw less than half of the nonsense we have today, but still; it's worrisome.

you mean IF they keep it. There's no promise they will. Or that it will be all of them or just the 16 GB wifi only a kin to the whole 3gs iPhone trick

They will do exactly that. They will capture price-conscious buyers with a low-priced alternative to...

The iPad HD.

Quad rez screen, natch.

Driven by an A6 Multi-Core procesor and

Maybe a PowerVR Series6 GPU?

The main camera will be the same 8 MP currently found on the iPhone, while the front facing one will be the best on the market. The cameras will need to be top-notch due to the high rez display.

Thunderbolt? Yes indeed.

LTE? Of Course. It is needed to power:

Siri II, better than ever, with some exclusive features.

Mapping will finally do away with Google. Apple's mapping investments will pay off with the best free mapping the world has ever seen. It will blow away anything/everything currently on the market, because it will use...

Augmented reality baked into the OS. Powered by Siri. Nobody will ever leave the house without taking their iPad, because the word will seem devoid of content without it.

Each of these is currently available and Apple is technologically able to give us each of this things. Right now. In the new iPad HD.

I think last October showed us just how silly that idea is. The retina iPad 3 will be the same price as current iPads. The iPad 2 16GB drops to $399 and Apple makes a killing on that, making up for whatever potential 4% margin drop they might incur by the added expense of the retina displays.

Three things that make the iPhone release un-relatable to the iPad:

1) Remember that with different models come different dynamics. Apple only sells previous generation HW as current when it comes to the iPhone, nothing else.

2) We also have no idea how much this display, the GPU, battery size increase, production success, or anything else related to this display will cost Apple. This is very new territory and is very different from the iPhone going to a Retina Display since the iPhone 4 used the same processor and GPU in the iPad yet the iPhone 4/4S pushes less pixels than the iPad today.

3) There is no tablet competition for Apple! I think your idea that the current iPad could drop by $100 makes sense but it also makes sense that Apple doesn't

have to with the state of the tablet industry. Amazon and B&N are no threat here with their glorified eBook readers with media capabilities.
In the end this comes down to a handful of factors that we can only speculate on. After we see what Apple does then we'll be able to figure out a very likely scenario as to why they did what they did.

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